1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



809 



go to work with a will on being returned, gen- 

 erally losing all desire to swarm. Here I had 

 a plan that accomplished the desired result 

 without the loss of ten days of my best har- 

 vest ; besides, I obtained extracted honey 

 enough to pay me for my time, while in the 

 other case I received nothing. ' ' 



" But did none of the colonies so treated 

 offer to swarm again ? ' ' 



" Now and then a colony would not be 

 cured in this way, although nine out of ten 

 would, in which case I would cage the queen, 

 as spoken of a little back, and wait only three 

 or four days, instead of eight or ten, when I 

 would extract the honey again, allowing the 

 queen her liberty, and in this way I never 

 failed in keeping a colony, which had once 

 commenced in the boxes, at work in the 

 same " 



" Yes, but sometimes colonies refuse to en- 

 ter the sections at all." 



"In case a colony refused to go into the 

 boxes, being determined on swarming, I took 

 off the comb -honey arrangement and substitut- 

 ed an upper story in the shape of a hive full 

 of empty combs. By raising a frame or two 

 of brood from below into the upper story I 

 was master of the situation, and colonies de- 

 termined not to work in boxes were made to 

 produce an equivalent yield of honey, by the 

 use of the extractor, equal to those which en- 

 tered the boxes the most readily." 



"Such working of an apiary is news to 

 me." 



"The aim of every person keeping bees 

 should be to make all colonies produce an 

 equal value of something readily turned into 

 cash, or of cash value, and the extractor is a 

 great help toward this end." 



" Have you any other reasons for using the 

 extractor in the same apiary where comb hon- 

 ey is produced ? ' ' 



' ' It often happens that a man has more col- 

 onies of bees than he can successfully work 

 for comb honey (which means swarms, taking 

 off sections when filled and snow-white, by 

 going over the apiary once a week, etc.), 

 while by using a part of the number of colo- 

 nies for extracted honey the whole can be 

 handled by one man, thus saving the wages of 

 an assistant, which would become a necessity, 

 if all were worked for comb honey, or the 

 same number of bees were divided into two 

 yards." 



" How could this best be done ? " 



" By setting apart, in the spring, a certain 

 number of colonies for extracted honey and a 

 certain number for comb honey, one man can 

 care for all by tiering those worked for ex- 

 tracted honey before his time is fully occupied 

 with those to be worked for comb honey, after 

 which little attention need be paid to them, 

 except to add another story, should they be- 

 come crowded for room." 



" How about the fall work ? " 



" After the filled sections are all taken off at 

 the close of the season, then these colonies 

 can be attended to, fixing them for winter ; 

 and what honey they do not need, extracted 

 from time to time, as we have leisure, by car- 

 rying the same to a warm room, allowing it to 



remain till it will extract easily. Thus the 

 apiarist can improve all of his time to the best 

 possible advantage — much more so, according 

 to my belief, than he could to have two sepa- 

 rate apiaries, one to be devoted to the produc- 

 tion of either kind exclusively. But I must 

 be going now, as I have an engagement to 

 meet at this time." 



A GOOD BEE-VEIL. 



I have been using a veil 

 of my own construction, 

 I now for the last two sea- 

 sons, and with such en- 

 lire satisfaction that I will 

 describe it here for the 

 benefit of all. Take veil- 

 ing 24 inches wide by 36 

 long. Sew the 24 -inch 

 sides together ; now take 

 a ^-inch-wide elastic, 18 

 inches long, and fasten 

 on top to go over the hat, 

 and one piece of elastic Yz inch wide by 28 

 inches long to fasten on the bottom ; also one 

 piece of elastic 6 inches long, with a button- 

 hole on one end. Fasten to bottom elastic, 

 and button on to trousers button, and I assure 

 you never a bee can go inside. Try it and be 

 convinced. M. R. Kuehne. 



Pomona, Cal. 



FEEDING SUGAR OR HONEY. 



My honey crop is a total failure— so dry this 

 fall that buckwheat did no good. I shall have 

 to feed. 



Would you advise- feeding honey when it 

 can be bought as cheap as or cheaper than 

 granulated sugar ? Would you add any water 

 to liquid honey ? If so, how much water to 

 20 lbs. of honey ? If honey were candied, 

 how much water should be added? Would 

 there be any danger of honey again granulat- 

 ing after being fed ? Would you fill empty 

 combs and put them in hives, or would you 

 prop up the front of the hives and pour in 

 feed? If the latter, how much feed would 

 you give at one time ? Would dark honey be 

 safe to feed ? W. D. Hurt. 



Pleasant Hill, Mo., Sept. 18. 



[Whenever honey can be sold at a price 

 equal to the cost of sugar syrup, we would ad- 

 vise selling the honey and feeding the syrup, 

 as the latter is a better feed for winter ; but if 

 the honey is already in the combs, and of good 

 quality, I would not extract it and feed sugar 

 syrup in its place. If, however, the honey is 

 to be fed, it should be diluted with water un- 

 til it would be called a ihin honey ; but it 

 would not do any great harm if one got the 

 honey too thin or too thick ; but, ordinarily, 

 honey fed not thinned down will be more lia- 



